President Donald Trump announced he will be giving the late Pete Rose a posthumous pardon.
On Friday (Feb. 28), Trump shared a post on Truth Social in which he trashed the MLB for not having the "courage" or "decency" to induct Rose into the Hall of Fame. He claimed that Rose is a better player than most of the players inducted into the Hall of Fame and that he will be submitting a pardon for Rose very soon.
"Over the next few weeks I will be signing a complete PARDON of Pete Rose, who shouldn't have been gambling on baseball, but only bet on HIS TEAM WINNING," said Trump. "He never betted against himself, or the other team. He had the most hits, by far, in baseball history, and won more games than anyone in sports history. Baseball, which is dying all over the place, should get off its fat, lazy ass, and elect Pete Rose, even though far too late, into the Baseball Hall of Fame!"
Trump didn’t specify what the pardon would cover. Rose pleaded guilty in 1990 to two counts of filing false tax returns and served five months in prison for the crime. The year before, Rose and the MLB agreed to a permanent ban after investigating that he bet on games between 1985 and 1987 while playing and managing the Cincinnati Reds.
In 1991, the board of directors for the Hall of Fame implemented a rule where banned players were ineligible for a ballot. According to ESPN’s sources, Rose’s eligibility may be reinstated.
